Cinquefoil
Potentilla simplex

Other Names: Five Fingers, Five-Finger Blossom, Five-finger grass, Sunkfield, Synkefoyle, Common Cinquefoil, Creeping Cinquefoil, Oldfield Cinquefoil

Habitat: (Potentilla simplex) Perennial herb native to Eastern and Central N. America from Nova Scotia to North Carolina, Alabama, Minnesota and Missouri. Found growing in dry open woods, prairie hillsides, roadsides, old fields and waste places. Cultivation: Cinquefoil is easily grown, prefers full sun but tolerating shade, in any moderately good well-drained soil. Sow seed early spring or autumn. The roots are long, slender rhizomes branched at the top from several crowns, from which arise the long-stalked leaves and solitary, yellow flowers that close up at night, and threadlike, creeping stems. The stem-runners root at intervals and often attain a length of 5 feet or more, spreading over a wide area. The name Five-leaved or Five Fingers refers to the leaves being divided into five leaflets. Each of these is about 1 1/2 inch long, with scattered hairs on the veins and margin. The margins of the leaflets serrated. In rich soils the leaflets are often six or seven. Flowers bloom in late May thru August. Harvest edible young shoots and leaves before flowers bloom. Gather entire plant, in bloom, dry for later herb use.

Properties: Cinquefoil is edible and medicinal, young shoots and leaves are edible in salad or cooked as a pot herb. The plant contains large amounts of tannins making it very astringent. A medicinal infusion made from the root is used in alternative medicine as an astringent, antiseptic, and tonic, used as a mouthwash for "thrash" and taken for dysentery and diarrhoea. A medicinal tonic is used for fevers and debility. A decoction is odontalgic, used as a gargle for loose teeth, spongy gums and, periodotal disease. Fresh juice mixed with honey removes hoarseness and relaxes sore throat, is very medicinal for coughs. A strong decoction is poured over infections, sores, rashes and as a bath additive it is soothing for reddened or irritated skin. An infusion of the leaves makes an excellent skin cleansing lotion and is also used cosmetically as a soothing lotion for reddened skin and for babies delicate skin. Powdered or crushed root stops bleeding. The plant is an ingredient in many anti-wrinkle cosmetic preparations for the skin.

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Folklore: It was an ingredient in many spells in the Middle Ages, and was particularly used as a magic herb in love potions. In an old recipe called 'Witches' Ointment' the juice of Five-leaf Grass, smallage and wolfsbane is mixed with the fat of children dug up from their graves and added to fine wheat flour.

TRY THIS RECIPES

A medicinal infusion of 1 oz. of the herb to a pint of boiling water. Take 1 cup a day.

Decoction, 1 1/2 oz. of the root, boiled in a quart of water down to a pint.